


Under The Brightest Star

by Parrillawow



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-12
Updated: 2018-08-12
Packaged: 2019-06-26 11:33:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,376
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15662403
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Parrillawow/pseuds/Parrillawow
Summary: Roland walks around storybrooke when certain places trigger certain memories.





	Under The Brightest Star

**Author's Note:**

> read notes at the end for TW 
> 
> some of the grammar is off because it is from Roland's POV and he is 6. 
> 
> other mistakes are mine. 
> 
> disclaimer: I dont own the characters, just the storyline
> 
> prompts used: 3, 5, 11, 13, 24, 28, 43

 

Roland is walking beside Little John, holding his hand while they navigate the streets until they arrive to their destination. Roland is nervous to say the least, he has the flowers his Gina loved so much.

He is wearing his fancy pants and jacket that looks so much like the one his father has. Gina said he was going to grow up just as handsome as his papa. He puffs out his chest with pride when he remembers the moment between his majesty and him.

They are almost there and he suddenly remembers last Christmas when Gina told him a bedtime story and they made a promise to each other.

 

_“Gina is the bestest person in the world.” Roland thinks to himself while he is listening to Gina telling him a bedtime story about a knight and a queen._

_“And so the knight saved the queen from being sad all the time. His laughter made the queen happy again and forget that she was sad. They lived happily ever after in the castle.” Gina whispers to him._

_“Gina…” He whispers back while he cuddles into her._

_“Yes, my little knight? Is there something you want to tell me, baby?” Gina coos while she wraps her arms around him and snuggles him into her. Smelling the faint forest scent of his papa’s shampoo._

_“Are you my mommy? Because you do everything a mommy does, you tell me bedtime stories and you make me lunch and cuddle me and take care of my booboo’s and love me like a mommy. You do love me don’t you, Gina?” He looks up at her with hopeful eyes and his big brown eyes looking at her with so much innocence but also a slight bit of fear, fear of rejection._

_“Yes, baby I love you. I love you so much, I can’t even explain it. Is that what you want, for me to be you mommy? Because to me you’re already my little baby, my son. You’re my little knight in shining armour.” Gina whispers as she bumps her nose against his._

_“Yes, can I call you mommy then? But Gina I’m also scared, I used to have a mommy once and she left… I don’t want to lose you too. Please don’t leave me too, mommy.” He whispers as tears well up in his eyes._

_“I promise my little knight, I won’t leave you. I love you, baby.” She coos as she kisses the tears from his eyes, all the while her own well up because he just called her mommy._

_“Okay, mommy. I go to sleep now. Merry Christmas, mommy.” Roland whispers as his eyes flutter close._

_“Merry Christmas, little one.” His mommy whispers before he falls asleep._

They go around the corner and Roland spots the ice cream place him and Henry and his papa and his mommy always went to.

 

_“Mommy, papa can we please go get ice cream? Pleaseeeeee?” Roland looks at his parents with the most innocent eyes._

_Regina and Robin share a look. Knowingly they can’t say no to their little boy. Robin is a bit more resistant but ever since Roland has been calling Regina his mommy she is putty in his hands whenever he uses it._

_“Yes mom, Robin, please let’s go. It’s been so long since we went, with it being winter and all!” Henry chimes in as soon as he sees the silent debate between the two parents._

_“Fine, let’s go. Only one scoop though, we still have to eat dinner.” Regina says in full blown mom mode._

_The family walks in and orders their ice cream and sit down at a table while Roland and Henry tell exiting stories of what happened at school that day. Regina and Robin looking at each other and smiling every time they catch the other looking._

_They look like a picture-perfect family, happy children and madly in love parents, if only it could stay that way._

Roland shakes off the memory and continues walking with his Uncle John clutching Gina’s favourite flowers a little harder in his small hands. They are getting a little heavy but he is mommy’s knight in shining armour he is not going to let anyone else carry his gift to her.

He is only 6 years old, and he has caught his uncle looking at him multiple times to see if he needed to take of carrying the bouquet. Roland had none of it. They were _his_ gift to his mommy. 

They pass the school and he looks at the playground where he had been bullied by some older kids before Henry stepped in. 

 

_“Gina is my mommy! She said so herself!” Roland cries as he is being pushed to the ground._

_“The evil queen killed your mother, she is not your mother, she is a monster.” An older boy taunts as they kick Roland._

_“STOP, Gina is my mommy, I love her. Ah stop kicking me, it hurts. Please stop!” Roland begs as he screams when one of the kids kicks him in the ribs._

_“Get off him!” Is all Roland hears but suddenly the mean people disappear and someone is fighting them. It’s Henry, his big brother is  saving him!_

_“That is my little brother and our mother, the Evil Queen isn’t going to be too happy about you hurting **her son**. Get out before she arrives.” Henry sneers at the bullies, who are very eager to get out and leave now that they heard the mayor is on her way. _

_Roland is still lying on the floor when Henry runs over, his little brother is in pain and he is so angry he almost runs after those bullies._

_He doesn’t. His brother needs him now._

_“Roland can you stand up, where does it hurt, talk to me please. Mom is on her way.” Henry tells Roland in a soft and soothing voice._

_At the mentioning of Regina his eyes open and he smiles, his mommy is going to come and heal him and protect him._

_“No, it hurts too much, I can’t stand up. Mommy will make it better though, right? It hurts in my chest and my stomach where they kicked me.” Roland mutters in between breaths, even breathing hurts so much._

_“Thank you, Henry, for coming to save me. You are the best big brother anyone could wish for.” He whispers while tears are rolling down his cheek, he is in so much pain, he can hardly breath._

_“You’re my little brother, Roland, of course I will protect you against those bullies. I have so much I want to teach you and do with you. You’re my favourite brother.” Henry smiles at Roland._

_“Henry, I’m your **only** brother.” Roland smirks and rolls his eyes despite being in so much pain.” _

_“He’s been living with us for not even a year and he already is inheriting mom’s attitude.” Henry mutters to himself with a grin on his face._

_Car doors slam, a frantic “Roland” is being yelled as both his parents climb out the Mercedes. Henry pulls a face, he does not want to know why his parents were together when she was supposed to be in her office and Robin in the woods._

_“What took you so long?” Henry can’t help but yell with a smirk on his face._

_Both parents blushing is more than he needs to know about the so called emergency meeting they had._

_“Roland, my boy, are you okay?” Robin runs over to Roland who is still on the ground clutching his stomach._

_Regina freezes, the embarrassment her son gave her quickly evaporating as she sees her youngest son laying on the ground. Who dared to hurt her son. Her face turns dark as she turns around and marches to the teacher who was supervising._

_“You let the happen to my son? You are responsible for my son being hurt?” Regina sneers in a very Evil Queen like manner. Nobody hurt her sons._

_“Madame Mayor-“ The young teacher stutters._

_“It’s Your Majesty. Let me make something very clear. This is my son, perhaps not by blood. But **he.** **is. my. son.** if you ever let anyone hurt my child again, I will become you biggest nightmare. Understood?” Regina growls at the young girl who frantically nods her head at the threat. _

_“One more thing, find me those boys who hurt my son, and send them to my office tomorrow.”_

_Regina turns around and spots her son still laying on the ground with a tear streaked face. Her gaze softens and she runs to her son falls to her knees and takes her baby in her arms._

_“Where does it hurt, my little knight. Tell me so I can make it better.” Regina whispers as she combs her hand through his hair._

_Robin and Regina look at each other with pain in their eyes. Their baby is hurting and they feel so helpless an angry that they had let this happen. All they want as parents is to take care and protect their children and seeing one of them in pain hurts endlessly._

_“My chest and stomach hurt so much mommy and papa. It hurts to breath.” Roland chokes back a sob._

_Regina lifts up his shirt and gasps when she sees the bruises forming on his little body. She’s fuming her baby is hurting. She immediately starts healing her little boy’s body. Her magic is the lightest shade of purple because of the love she is feeling for her son and the want to heal him._

_As soon as he is healed she pulls his shirt down. Robin picks him up and they carry him to the car and put him in his car seat._

_Henry sits next to him and holds his hand as they ride home. Not one teacher holds Henry back from leaving with his parents, not after they have seen how angry Regina is._

_They arrive home and they all snuggle on the couch. Roland is sitting in Regina’s lap and Robin and Henry are on either side while they watch Disney movies all night._

Roland shakes his head, his grins when he remembers how the boy left Gina’s office the next day. He or Henry never had any problems at school anymore. It’s fun when your mommy is the queen.

At the end of the street is Granny and he remembers when they celebrated his birthday there last year.

 

_“You did not get out son a real bow and arrow?!” Regina turns around to Robin as soon as Roland unpacked the gift._

_Robin is smiling with an apologetic smile on his face. Roland is over the moon. He can finally start to practise how to be more like his dad, the prince of thieves. As he is trying to navigate the bow and arrow with his body someone take the arrow before he loses control. Scowling Roland turns around to see who dared to take his arrow from him._

_Uncle John is standing there with a smile on his face saying to never use it inside and he’ll need a lot of practise before he can use a real arrow._

_“Practise? Over my dead body, he’s only 6 years old Robin he is way too young for those things. How would you feel if I would give him a gun just to start practising.?” Regina glares at Robin while he bristles at the comparison._

_“Regina, my love, arrows are not the same as guns!” Robin looks like Regina had grown a second head._

_“Whatever, we’ll wait to use the real set while we let him practise with no sharp and fake arrows? How does that sound?” Robin tries to come to a consensus while he grabs Regina by the waist._

_“Fine, but you’ll still have to apologize for scaring me by giving our son that.” Regina replies with a smirk and a glint in her eyes while she rubs his arms._

_“Mom!” Henry whines, knowing where this going and already mentally trying to recall where his headphones are. No matter what his parents claim they are **loud.**_

_Regina blushes as Robin just winks at her and whispers something in her ear that makes her blush a whole lot more._

_Roland doesn’t care, he doesn’t understand why Henry doesn’t want papa to apologize, isn’t that supposed to be a good thing? He is too young for that boring adult talk. He has more gifts to open._

Roland laughs when he remembers that his daddy did let him practise with the real arrows. Until he got hurt one day. He had never seen his mommy so mad at his papa. He wasn’t even allowed to sleep in the bed anymore! He knows because he woke up early and daddy was on the couch so he decided to go snuggle Gina.

His stomach is aching a bit, he knows they are almost there. He looks up at his Uncle John and he looks a little nervous as well.

They take on last turn and Roland abruptly stops. This is the place where his whole life changed. This is where he had the worst day of his life. His lips start trembling as he remembers what happened 6 months ago, only 1 week after his birthday.

 

_They are all sitting in the car and Roland is playing a game with Henry in the backseat. Mommy and papa are holding hands while papa tells mommy a story. Mommy is driving since she doesn’t trust daddy to drive. She says he drives like a crazy person. Roland agrees because if mommy says so, it must be the truth._

_They are on their way to their first family vacation outside of Storybrooke. He can’t wait to go swimming with Henry and built castles with his mommy and daddy._

_As Gina turns the corner a car comes out of nowhere. Gina can’t turn away fast enough and the car crashes straight into Henry and Gina’s side._

_When he wakes up Roland doesn’t know how long he was asleep, but people are screaming outside the car and he thinks he can hear his Uncle John yell for help. Roland looks around the car and sees that Henry, mommy and papa are still sleeping._

_“Henry, mommy, daddy. Can you please wake up? I’m hurt and you guys are hurt too, we need to get out of the car so we can heal, right mommy?” Roland questions_

_No answer._

_They all continue to lie still. Henry’s head is bleeding and is laying against the window. His papa’s is resting with his head against the window as well. Mommy’s head is resting against the steering wheel and blood is dripping from her head._

_“Help! Help, my family is bleeding and not waking up. Help me please!” Roland screams and he hears different gasps because the people didn’t know he was awake._

_“Get them out of there now!” his Uncle John yells._

_“Mommy wake up! You promised you wouldn’t leave! Daddy please, we have to go shoot arrows, wake up! Henry, we still have to read many many many books. Please you have to wake up all of you.” Roland screams frantically in near hysteria._

_The car door opens and he is being pulled out of the car and his Uncle John has him in a death grip. He needs to look if they are okay. He is their knight he needs to save them doesn’t he understand that?_

_“Let me go! I need to save them, they are my family!” Roland screams as he wiggles and tries to get away from his uncle._

_Finally the doctors arrive and take his mom, dad and brother out the car and straight into the big cars that make a lot of noise._

_When he arrives to the hospital, they all have grim and sad looks on their faces. Roland doesn’t care he wants to see his family. He marches straight to the info desks and demands to see his family like the mini-Mills he is._

_The doctor comes out of the room and looks at his Uncle John and shakes his head. What does he mean, no? He can’t see his family? He is Roland Locksley and Regina Mills and Robin Hood are his parents does this doctor know who he is and who his parents are?_

_Uncle John his lips tremble and he tries not to cry, why is he so upset? It is **his** family that is in the hospital. He looks incredulously at his uncle and the doctor. Will someone finally tell him what is happening. _

_Roland looks at his uncle and gives him the one eyebrow raised and hands on his hips look also known as the typical Regina Mills look. Uncle John lets out a wet chuckle and guides the boy to one of the seats in a private room._

_“Roland, my boy, the car that drove into your car drove really fast okay? And well it drove so fast that it hurt your mommy, papa and Henry really bad. Roland, they…” His uncle lets out a sob and he is worried, what happened?_

_“Roland they all passed away. Like your first mommy. They are with her now. She will take care of them now.”_

_He doesn’t understand. Passed away? But what about him? Why didn’t he pass away? Was he not allowed to? Maybe mommy didn’t see the car because I was playing my game with Henry too loud. Is it his fault?_

_“Are.. Are they gone? Have they left me? Was I not a good boy?” He whispers while he plays with his fingers in his lap._

_It must be his fault why is he the only one that lives when they are all together without him._

_“Roland, yes they are gone, but they haven’t left you. They are still in your heart. You have been the best boy. Sometimes things happen and it’s not fair. I’m so sorry my boy.” Uncle John whispers as he pulls Roland is his arms and tries to give him comfort._

_He doesn’t want comfort from him._

_He wants his family back._

Uncle John turns around and looks at Roland with sad eyes. This is the first time he has been here since the accident. He has been living in the woods with the Merry Men. He wanted to go today, so his uncle took him without asking why.

Roland takes a deep breath which makes him look years older than he actually is and John’s heart clenches with pain to see this little man in so much pain.

Finally they have arrived to their destination. The cemetery. He lets his uncle guide him to the place where his little family is resting as he heard the adults say.

As he sees one big stone with all their names on he turns around and looks at his uncle.

“Can I please go alone, I need to tell them somethings, please.” Roland looks up and his uncle nods his head while he sits on a bench nearby. His uncle is out of earshot but can still see what is happening. 

Roland nears the stone and decides to start with Henry, he takes the storybook out of his bag and places it on the grave. 

“Hi Henry, it’s me Roland. I hope you haven’t forgotten about me yet. I miss you and all the games we played. I hope you are not angry with me. I didn’t mean to be so loud. If I hadn’t been so loud mommy probably would’ve seen the car coming. I love you Henry and I will come by more often I promise.” Roland sniffles a little and thinks about all he wonderful memories he has had with his brother.

Next was his papa, he pulls out the arrow he had gotten for his birthday and places it next to the storybook. 

“Hi papa, I miss you.” His lips tremble but he pushes himself to continue, he needs to tell his papa this.

“Papa, it’s not the same without you, I miss playing in the woods with you, the merry men try but it’s not the same. They don’t know my favourite hiding spots. I haven’t shot an arrow since you left. I don’t want to play with my bow and arrow it reminds me too much of you and my heart hurts a little when I think of you, papa. Please can you come back, I need you."  

Roland is crying and tries to muffles his cries so he doesn’t alarm his uncle and needs to leave earlier there is one more person he needs to talk to and he grabs the flowers and places them next to the arrow.

He also pulls out his necklace which has a little photo of him and Regina. He takes it off and places it beside the flowers.

“Hi mommy, how are you today. I hope you are okay, I miss you but I guess you know that already. Uncle John told me that you all are in my heart where I keep you warm until I join you a lot of years in the future. Mommy, I thought you loved me? You promised you wouldn’t leave and now I’m here all alone.” He chokes on his sobs and his little body is shaking with the grief of losing his entire family.

“You said you wouldn’t leave like my first mommy but you did. You all left me. Now I’m here all alone.  I have my uncles but I’m scared they will leave me just like you did. Why did you lie? You told me we would be a family forever.” He doesn’t understand how could they leave him like that.

Roland leans forward and tries to be closer to his family that is resting together underneath the ground. They are so far but also, so close. He remembers his mommy’s perfume and how he always snuggled into her. 

He remembers his daddy’s smell as well and his laugh. He remembers all their laughs and smiles. He remembers being happy and never wanting it to end. 

“All I want is a little more time with you, so I can tell you how much I miss you. You are my family and family means nobody gets left behind or forgotten, Stich said so! Can you come back please? Or maybe you can come get me and let me join you in this new realm you are staying in?” Roland pleads and pleads. He is only 6 years old all he wants is his family back.

He stands up and before he turns around, the wind picks up. He swears it’s his mother perfume he smells, and Henry’s laugh he can hear. He looks around and at the other side of the field there they are. 

He can see his mom, dad, and brother looking at him and smiling. Papa is having his arm around his mom and she has her head in his neck. Henry is in the middle with papa’s hand on his shoulder. And cuddled into Gina’s side. 

Roland stands up and smiles a watery smile, he waves at them. He lets out a sob when he sees them wave back at him. His mommy is saying something, but he can’t hear but all of a sudden, the wind pick up again and he can hear his mommy tell him.

“My little knight, the accident wasn’t your fault. The game you played with Henry wasn’t too loud, it was the driver in the other car his fault.” She smiles sadly wanting to reach out to her baby boy badly.

Then he hears Henry: “I’m not angry at you, you’re still my little brother. I love you and none of it was your fault.”

His papa is next: “My sweet boy, I know you miss us. We’ve been with you the entire time you just can’t see us anymore. But we will always be here to listen to you and we will always be by your side my boy. I can feel your pain, but I love you even if I’m not there anymore.” 

“Can’t you come back to me please, I miss you and we are a family don’t families stay together? I miss reading books with you Henry, I miss playing games in the woods with you papa. I miss getting bedtime stories or making cookies with you mommy.” Roland whispers into the wind that brings the message to his little family at the other side.

His mommy sheds a few tears and gives him a little smile while his papa is also crying, and Henry tries to give him a comforting smile.

“No, I’m sorry baby, we cannot come back. If you ever need to talk to us, you can come here and we will listen to you. Or look at the brightest star you can see and we will be there with you. I miss you baby, and someday we will see each other again. For now you need to be strong, you need to be my little knight.” His mommy whispers and suddenly he feels the wind around him and it feels as if his mommy is right there hugging him. His little body is trembling while he tries to stop crying and get his shaking under control.

“Be happy and don’t live with anger in your heart, my little knight.” His mommy whispers.

“Pick up that bow and arrow and get back to practising my boy, you are the son of the prince of thieves. Prove it to them.” His papa whispers.

“Read many books, read all the books you can and when we see each other again we can talk about them all.” His brother tells him.

When Roland looks back up, the wind is gone and so is his family. He can’t see them anymore. They came to say goodbye, he realizes.

Roland turns around and wipes his tears as he walks to his Uncle John. He smiles up at him and tells him he needs to start practising his bow and arrow again. 

As they walk away, Roland turns his little head and whispers.

 

“One day we will see each other again, under the brightest star.”

**Author's Note:**

> TW: blood, death, car crash


End file.
